It strikes me as suspicious, you
have so many kids & still so much money.
Why take that many children on a Paris vacation?

Conceptually, I understand. I do. Reverse
the heist, the hero is us, the perpetual
middle child, neglected by a nation.

But, please, Kevin. This isn’t about you.

You’ve had your moments & your reckless abandon.
Eggshell skull theory: you can’t know how much slapstick
a life can take. It does not absolve you
of responsibility. An ending—

Happy, we spend our holiday
together. Laid out in Christmas sweaters
in the foreground & behind
a cut pine, I look at this whole
unfamiliar sight & think
The hero was never me.

Mary Rose Manspeaker was born and raised in West Virginia. They currently live in Brooklyn, where they work for independent publisher Three Rooms Press and are pursuing an MFA with The Writer's Foundry at St. Joseph's College. Their work appears in Hobart, Lammergeier, Juke Joint, and elsewhere, and they tweet @MaryRoseMan.